• Question by: Graham Tope
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Commissioner, you mentioned again a term you used to use about the Balkanisation of policing services. You were always opposed to the accreditation of local authority run neighbourhood wardens or whatever term they use in parks police. Are you reconsidering that view, and will you allow accreditation in London as in the rest of the country?

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

I thought I might, with your indulgence, Chair, just start the ball rolling by giving one example, very briefly, of good practice which was given to me in my briefing, which is in the Slade Green area of the London borough of Bexley, where Bexley is I think held up as a very good practitioner of community partnerships between the police and the local authority and the voluntary sector and other players, and it has had material benefits, and I guess one thing that would be very helpful in helping to clarify this whole area is to grandstand and exemplify...

• Question by: John Biggs
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

I was very keen to ask this question because I was hoping I would get that sort of answer, which is that I think there is a hell of a lot of good work in this area - and let us be very clear this is not a party political question because there are, I think when you are honest about this, Labour boroughs who are good, there are some who are less good, there are Conservative boroughs who are good and there are some who are less good. What worries me in your answer is that, whilst I agree...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

On the issue of enforcing those licensing laws, can I just have your views about what effect you believe the new licensing laws will have in terms of effective policing and the use of police resources? Perhaps you could also tell us a little bit about whether you think the new Violent Crime Reduction Bill, which gives the police extra powers in respect of premises, will help you in that fight?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Obviously the police are not the sole practitioners anyway. A lot will fall on local boroughs as licensing authorities, and could you just tell me if there is any advice that you are giving to local forces as to how they deal with their local boroughs, and do you believe there are any gaps in London where that partnership is not working, and what advice are you giving to fill those gaps?

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

The final area I want to explore with regard to children - young people binge-drinking is underage drinking. I think from the figures that I have, the number of underage children that are drinking has remained about steady for the last 10 to 15 years, but the amount of alcohol they are drinking has almost doubled in that period, and also, you touched on this earlier, that alcohol-fuelled crime, and I know that from some of the operations that have taken place with the police and local boroughs that, for example, over the Christmas and New Year period, I understand...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

-- 32% of licensed premises were found to be selling to under 18s. I am just wondering where that is in your priorities, and what resources you are putting in to that area?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

Sir Ian (Blair), thank you. My point is that having ID cards did not stop the Madrid bombings; having ID cards has not stopped bombings in Russia; the 9/11 hijackers all had valid documents and were able to get into the US; and they did not prevent any of those things, and yet the Government used the argument of having ID cards to justify the whole process, that ID cards would have prevented these when they brought them in. I remember David Blunkett (former Home Secretary) saying it in Parliament.

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

The biometrics have to be foolproof is what you are saying?

• Question by: Peter Hulme Cross
• Meeting date: 15 June 2005

The database to have to handle this would be massive. The problems of simply creating that database would be huge, and those people, the human link that would have to look after it, would be open to blackmail or inducements by criminal elements.